Covered In Paint: Book Five of the Art Of Love Series by Donna McDonald

when he needs a fix. He told Melanie about her when she hit on him. Tell her, Melanie,” the first woman ordered the second.
    “Yep. Dr. Barrymore said he was dating a teacher in Louisville,” the second confirmed.
    “Although I have heard different rumors lately,” the first said, peeking into the classroom and then looking back.
    “What rumors?” Brooke prompted, another nosy question popping out on its own.
    “I’ve heard he’s got a thing for a new teacher on campus,” the first said.
    “Who…who…” Brooke cleared her throat so she could get it out. “Who is it?”
    They both answered with a shrug, and she visibly relaxed. Wow. Campus gossip practically flew around here. U of C had never been like this…not that she had known about anyway.
    “Well, we better get in there. He’s started lecturing already. We’re working on form today. You picked a boring class to audit. Where’s your stuff? Aren’t you drawing?”
    Brooke shook her head. “No. Not today. I just thought I would see what it was like.”
    “If you like drawing naked women, you’re in the right place,” the second snipped, slipping into the room.
    “Come in quietly so you don’t get the evil eye. He’s been known to kick people out for disrespecting the models,” the first advised, following her friend.
    After they had both gone into the classroom, Brooke reached back, twirled a lock of hair and caught herself. She dropped her hands and lifted her chin. What on earth was she nervous about? “So you have a booty call woman in Louisville, eh? Well, we’ll just see about that, Dr. Barrymore.”
    Her intention was to march into the room and take a seat, but instead she stopped short at the door. Her gaze was arrested by the sight of a naked and attractive twenty-year-old blonde reclining on a red cushioned bench at the front of the class. Everyone could see the full back of her body from hairline to toes.
    Pacing near her, Drake asked her to turn her upper body slightly toward him and put her gaze on the ceiling. She did as his low voice commanded until one hard-nippled, perky twenty-year-old breast pointed skyward under his intense gaze. Drake nodded in approval of her new position and returned to pointing out the curves of her spine and hips. And yes—her now pointy-nippled breast too—as he explained how to capture the curve of it in a drawing.
    She was both stunned and humiliated.
    Brooke guiltily recalled how Drake’s mesmerizing voice had shut down her mind a time or two. This wasn’t taking into account the fact that the man had silenced her tongue every time he had kissed her. Yet nothing she knew about him had prepared her for what she felt, seeing him standing so close to a naked woman who wasn’t her.
    After staring at the scene for several long minutes, her rapidly firing brain started offering dozens of logical deductions. It was absolutely the fastest set of conclusions she’d ever drawn in her life, but she was too shocked to enjoy her mind working so brilliantly. All her reservations about getting involved with the dark and brooding man she craved were suddenly explainable.
    She knew for sure now that Drake wasn’t the one —could never be the one . Their age difference was widely reflected in the sum of their life experiences. But his intense gaze on the naked twenty-year-old made every conclusion she was drawing even more crystal clear.
    Suddenly all the time she had spent wondering how Drake would react to the first sight of her youthful body rose up to embarrass her. It was obvious now her personal angst had been for no good reason. Obviously the man was used to seeing perky breasts every damn day. Why would he be impressed with hers?
    The naked breast she could see plainly, even from the back of the cavernous room, was still pointing at the ceiling and looking like an advertisement for a silicone implant. Brooke knew her very real breasts were still quite nice, but they weren’t anything